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Did you know? NLDS Game 1: Nats 3, Cards 2

Did you know? NLDS Game 1: Nats 3, Cards 2

10/7/12: Adam Wainwright collects 10 strikeouts and limits the Nationals to just one run over 5 2/3 impressive frames in Game 1 of the NLDS

By Mike Fiammetta and Jake Kaplan
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MLB.com |

A look at some notable facts and figures from the Washington Nationals' 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the National League Division Series at Busch Stadium on Sunday.

 The Nats' one-run win was the first postseason victory for a Washington-based Major League team since the Senators won Game 3 of the 1933 World Series on Oct. 5, 1933.

 Tyler Moore drove in the tying and go-ahead runs with a pinch-hit single with two outs in the eighth inning. The Nationals rookie hit just .184 when batting with two outs in the regular season.

 Washington's Gio Gonzalez is the first NL pitcher to walk seven or more batters and allow one or no hits in a postseason game. He earned a no-decision.

 Adam Wainwright is the first pitcher in postseason history to record 10 strikeouts while lasting fewer than six innings. He was also the first Cards pitcher to strike out 10 in a postseason game since Hall of Famer Bob Gibson in the 1968 World Series. Gibson struck out a World Series record 17 in a Game 1 shutout and 10 in a Game 4 win. All but one of Wainwright's punchouts came on curveballs.

 Ian Desmond of the Nats notched three hits in his first playoff game. He is the first shortstop with three or more hits in his postseason debut since Alan Trammell in 1984, and the fifth all time.

 Sunday's game marked the first postseason game in which neither team recorded an extra-base hit since Oct. 15, 1999, when the Braves beat the Mets, 1-0, in Game 3 of the NL Championship Series.

 St. Louis third baseman David Freese, last year's World Series and NLCS MVP, continued to have success in the postseason, tallying two of his club's three hits.

 The Nationals-Cardinals NLDS matchup includes baseball's oldest (69-year-old Davey Johnson) and youngest (42-year-old Mike Matheny) managers. Johnson and Matheny represent the largest age difference (27 years and 235 days) between opposing managers in postseason history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Before this series, the previous record was 27 years, 193 days, and came when Joe Torre's Yankees squared off against Eric Wedge's Indians in the 2007 American League Division Series.

 Both team's starting pitchers drew a walk against each other for just the fourth time in Major League postseason history. Sunday's occurrence marked the first time both walked in the game's first two innings. Wainwright walked Gonzalez with two outs in the second inning to load the bases, and Gonzalez issued a free pass to Wainwright to load the bases with one out in the bottom half of the frame.

 After his last regular-season start on Sept. 27 -- Johnson elected to skip Gonzalez in the Nats' final regular-season series against the Phillies -- Gonzalez was pitching on nine days' rest on Sunday. Gonzalez has pitched four times with six days or more of rest this season, finishing with a 3.98 ERA and 1.426 WHIP in such circumstances.

 The Nationals' Danny Espinosa struck out three times in as many at-bats, and each one came with at least one runner on base. In total, Espinosa left four runners on base.

Mike Fiammetta and Jake Kaplan are associate reporters for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.